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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28706712">King's Brand</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangirlOfPower/pseuds/FangirlOfPower'>FangirlOfPower</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hollow Knight fics [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hollow Knight (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Ghost is ND and gets overstimulated I don't make the rules, POV Second Person, The Knight is Called Ghost (Hollow Knight), and by Ghost's perspective I mean YOURS, technically, the collecting of the King's Brand from Ghost's perspective</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:54:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,014</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28706712</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangirlOfPower/pseuds/FangirlOfPower</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You enter the ash covered arena, facing the sentinel again.<br/>She is guarding something interesting! What could it be?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hollow Knight fics [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>King's Brand</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You look up at the spike traps around you, Hornet doing her midair silk wheel attack. Void leaks from your shell, your Shade threatening to escape if you get hit one more time. You have enough Soul for a heal or for a spell.<br/>
<br/>
Hornet lands and readies her needle to throw at you. You take the risk and release Shade Soul, the spell hitting her before she can leap into the air. Anything to end this fight before that needle cracks your shell in half again.<br/>
<br/>
Hornet cries out and falls over at impact. The spikes disappear. She stands back up. You hesitantly approach and look up at her. “...So strong…” Hornet says. “You could do it, if you had the will. But could you raise your nail once knowing its tragic conception? And knowing yourself?”<br/>
<br/>
You don't know what she's talking about. But you nod. You've come this far!<br/>
<br/>
Hornet stands straight. “Then do it, Ghost of Hallownest! Head onward. Burn that mark upon your shell and claim yourself as King.”<br/>
<br/>
Do WHAT? Before you can ask what she's talking about, she throws her needle up into the ceiling and disappears. The arena opens.<br/>
<br/>
Ghost of Hallownest… Is that your name? Ghost? It's a nice name.<br/>
<br/>
Before you continue forward, you return to the bench in the tent to rest. The Void leaking from your shell stops. You adjust your charms and return to the arena. You continue forward. Nothing. No enemies. Spooky.<br/>
<br/>
In front of you is a cave. No, it's not a cave. It has teeth. The mouth of a dead monster? You hope it's dead. You shift nervously. What if it eats you? Hornet wouldn't fight you just to send you to be eaten by a monster, would she? You think you know enough about her to think that she wouldn't. You straighten up and walk forward as confidently as possible.<br/>
<br/>
Instead of being dark like you thought it would be, there's a bright white light on the other end. You approach it, your Shade blinking away the after image. It hurts to look at. It's really overstimulating, but you're getting used to it.<br/>
<br/>
You reach up and tap it gently. It becomes a symbol like a claw, four spikes on top and one on the bottom. You recognize that symbol! It’s on that big door in the Ancient Basin. Is this the mark of the King? There's no burning on your shell. You hesitantly touch it again. It disappears and nothing happens for a moment.<br/>
<br/>
Agony. So painful you can't bring yourself to scream. It brings you to your knees as your shell burns and something is etched, burned, branded into your chest.<br/>
<br/>
A few seconds later the pain eases and you take a breath. That hurt! That was awful! Hornet meant it when she said burned into your shell. That was nothing like the bubbly fizzy feeling of Isma's Tear or the feeling of being too big for your shell when the Snail Shaman gave you Vengeful Spirit (and knocked you out, you still aren't completely over that, none of your other spells knocked you out, he did that on purpose). This was painful, and horrid, and you never ever EVER want to feel something like it again.<br/>
<br/>
You lift your cloak, staring down at your chest. The four pronged crest is now burned on your shell, like Hornet told you it would be. You poke it tenderly. It hurts, but not as bad as it did a few seconds ago. You shake your head and check the strange book in your Void storage that writes descriptions of your stuff.<br/>
<br/>
How does it do that?<br/>
<br/>
Maybe your birth parents know. If you ever find them. Momma and Papa sure don’t know.<br/>
<br/>
Maybe it’s like Hunter’s Journal?<br/>
<br/>
You read the name and description of your new… Item.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
King’s Brand<br/>
Marks the bearer as King.<br/>
Hallownest's ancient places shall open before it.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
Are YOU the king now? Your Shade crinkles inside your shell in disgust. You don’t WANT to be king. You want to wander around Hallownest causing harmless mischief and discovering new things.  There’s always a new secret to discover. Kings can’t do that. The King wandered away and let Hallownest fall to ruin and decay and the Infection and you would never do such a thing.<br/>
<br/>
Hallownest’s ancient places… The door in the Ancient Basin? You wanted to know what was behind there. You suppose you can now.<br/>
<br/>
You replace the book and turn to face the open mouth of the monster. Is this the wyrm Bardoon mentioned? Maybe. You take one step forward and freeze. The tunnel around you is shaking.<br/>
<br/>
Is… Is it awake? No, no it’s dead. It has to be dead. It’s still cold in here. Much colder than outside.<br/>
<br/>
A piece of the ceiling falls, almost crushing you. You jump sideways, crying out.<br/>
<br/>
Oh.<br/>
<br/>
It’s collapsing.<br/>
<br/>
You won’t make it running, you aren’t fast enough. You charge your crystals and release.<br/>
<br/>
The tunnel crumbles behind you and in front of you. A piece slams into you, knocking you sideways. You cry out. You don’t have time to charge the crystals again. You dash with your cloak, trying to outrun the ash.<br/>
<br/>
The light ahead isn’t as bright as the one you chased before, but the price of failure is the same. You don’t know what that means. You’ve never chased a light before. You don’t remember chasing a light.<br/>
<br/>
Another piece of shell falls, trapping you. You cry out, scared. Tears drip from your eyes. “Help! Hornet! Hornet!” You know she’s here. She’s always following you. She hasn’t stopped following you since you met in Greenpath. One of the pieces hits your head and it smacks against the floor. You see a brief flash of red before the ceiling crumbles completely.<br/>
<br/>
There’s a flurry of ash. Hornet drops you on the ground outside the collapsed monster corpse and zips away. The bright white of Kingdom’s Edge hurts your eyes so so so much but you’ve never been so glad to be overstimulated.</p>
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